


Reaching Out

by WhatTheCensoredXD



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen, Halloween-Vibe, Spiritual
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-07
Updated: 2015-11-07
Packaged: 2018-04-30 12:40:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 7,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5164181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhatTheCensoredXD/pseuds/WhatTheCensoredXD
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I know…" he whispered near the temple of her forehead. "At least she doesn't have to suffer of going unfound any longer. Because she reached out and you answered her. You found her and you saved her."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I

Lydia loudly gasped as she immediately sat up on her bed.

The warm covers quickly fell down to her waist, the cool air pinching her shivering skin while her fingers tightly curled around the soft fabric. Her chest heaved heavily as her heart raced, the blood pumping around her body. Lydia tried to calm herself down by taking deep breaths and slowly releasing them with her lips trembling slightly from the shock.

The redhead teen eyed her room carefully to make sure she was indeed truly here. Her fingertips slowly made their way up to her neck, the tips brushing her burning throat. It was fine, nothing had happened to her. She was fine, but at the same time Lydia wasn't fine.

She didn't _feel_ fine.

Something was off, but she didn't know what.

Her soft, strawberry hair swept passed her shoulders as Lydia's head moved to the side. She gazed outside the glass window, seeing nothing but her empty backyard. The sunrise was beginning to show as the colorful lights of red, orange and yellow mixed seamlessly together and formed other hues, but Lydia couldn't pay attention to that.

Maybe it was a dream for her, it had to be, but in her mind the dream felt quite real. She wasn't sure if she should just ignore it either. It was a choice that was difficult for her to make considering it wasn't easy to forget at all. Lydia didn't want to keep what she experienced to herself, but she had to tell someone.

She wasn't insane.

Lydia Martin was _not_ insane.

But the dream made her feel insane all over again.


	2. II

"So what do you think?"

Lydia blinked her eyes as she came back into reality by Allison's soothing voice. Her hazel eyes stared straight at her brunette best friend and noted the concerned frown that had now formed on Allison's face.

"Lydia," Allison's body leaned forward, ignoring the opened binder on the table. "Are you all right? You seem…unease today."

"Of course," Lydia promptly responded without any hesitation, her chest puffing out. Allison rose a knowing eyebrow at her direction, pretty much detecting the lie. Lydia sighed as she was caught. "Okay, I'm not fine."

"Then what's wrong? Something is clearly bothering you since you haven't spoken or pitched in an idea for the Halloween party."

Lydia hugged herself tightly with her arms, the feeling of her warmth increased the secureness around herself. The intelligent teen glanced down at her notebook, the blank page staring back at her, before looking at Allison's curious brown eyes. The huntress resembled like a deer, her face tilted slightly as her short waves curled near her shoulders. The wind blew around them while students walked passed their table and some leaves danced around the grass beneath the two girls.

"I had some dream last night," Lydia quietly began as her fingers dug in deeper into her brown coat. "I was wandering around a dark forest, not our forest, but a different one. There was this noise, like a child crying or whimpering somewhere, and I wanted to know where the sound was coming from. I wanted to know who was out there with me and so I tried to follow the noise. I was almost close, but…"

"But what, Lydia?" Allison firmly asked her friend, the teenager's eyebrows furrowed tightly together with full attention. "What happened?"

"Someone caught me by the neck, stopping me…" Lydia whispered, her lips beginning to tremble once again. "And then I woke up. Am I insane, Allison?"

Allison reached for her hand as she squeezed her own for reassurance. "You're not insane, Lydia."

"Then why do I feel this way?" She argued back with irritation. "I have no idea what the hell I've just experienced!"

Allison bit her lip. "Maybe you found a dead person."

"But I usually scream when death comes near me," she pointed out quietly. "I didn't scream when I woke up. I jumped and gasped."

Allison's eyes scanned the school's area. Everyone was minding their own business, their cheerfulness on high as Halloween was approaching. The building was decorated for the approaching day, three days to be exact. Allison wasn't sure what to do with Lydia, but had always stood by her even when problems and chaos arises. An idea slipped into her mind and Allison quickly packed her things while confusion was written across Lydia's youthful face.

"What are you doing?"

Allison tugged on her bag's strap. "Come with me. I think I know someone who might help out."

"Scott?" The way it came out didn't sound distasteful, but more of relief and hopefulness. If it were anyone who might help: Scott would be the one Lydia would go to as well. Allison nodded while gesturing her head inside the building.

Lydia shoved her belongs quickly before getting up and rushing with Allison into the school.


	3. III

"You have five minutes before I need to come back," Scott hushed as he closed the door behind him. The alpha werewolf heard Allison whispered for him to come outside into the hallway since it was urgent and Scott couldn't say no. Asking for the pass to the bathroom, he immediately stepped outside and let his eyes bounce on the two girls in front of him.

"I'm not sure if five minutes would be enough, but we'll make it quick," Allison quietly told him as she made sure no one was overhearing. The hallways were empty with only a few students wandering around, but paid no attention to the trio. "Lydia told me she had this dream last night."

Scott scrunched his nose. "And?"

"I heard someone crying," Lydia huffed feeling offended by Scott's reaction. "It was a child, but I'm note sure if it was a boy or girl. All I know I was wandering around a forest, following the sound before I was strangled."

The lacrosse player blinked his eyes. "That's kind of…dark and frightening, but what it's have to do with me?"

Lydia rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest. "You know how I scream when I find a dead body?"

"Yes."

"Well, I didn't scream this time, but I have the same feeling I get whenever I do sense death," she informed him with a serious tone and Scott's eyes narrowed at Lydia. "Whatever I experienced last night…I think it's trying to tell me something, but I have no idea what."

Allison stared between her best friend and Scott, giving the werewolf pleading eyes. "Do you think you can help us?"

Scott glanced at Lydia before giving Allison a nod. "I'll see what I can do. Maybe tell Stiles, but," he quickly turned his attention back at the redhead, "do you have any clear picture on who strangled you?"

She shook her head. "It came from behind, but I do remember the forest. It wasn't from our area…"

"I'm not sure how much help I could give, but I'll try," he assured them both before heading back inside his classroom. Allison and Lydia shared a look, their eyes briefly connecting before Lydia pulled away as she began to walk down the hallway in misery. 


	4. IV

The next morning was normal.

Lydia was disappointed to not have dreamt of anything the night before. She simply closed her eyes, hopeful for the same dream to come back and plague her with their haunting chills, but nothing. She didn't say anything and it infuriated her. Lydia wanted to know more about it, she wanted to know who was crying. Where they were crying from.

Who tried to  _kill_  her.

Instead, she headed to school with a blank mind.

With that, she entered her physics class, a period she shared with Stiles and Isaac. The girl did give the two boy a quick smile before gazing outside the window that was beside her. Her hazel eyes followed each leaf that floated across the grass, their colors grabbing her attention as they were quite bright.

The teacher finally entered and everyone opened up their notebooks as they prepared for another lesson. Lydia reached for her pencil that sat on the long table she shared with Stiles, and began to write down some notes. She grew fairly bored and with that, she opened up a special notebook that was reserved for her drawing. It helped Lydia pass the time and she always loved how the pencil stroked gently on the paper.

The lines were endless, she had control over them. Lydia could make them go wherever she pleases and she could make anything with just her imagination. It was this kind of freedom that Lydia adored and she always had continued it ever since she was a little girl. No one would understand why she loved to draw sketches. On the outside, she was this beautiful girl who was supposed to be popular. Date the most popular boy, be the most envious girl in high school, be the most datable person for the boys.

It was all setup for her.

She didn't care until sophomore year, when the whole supernatural world decided to turn the tables on her life and make her become insane. But she didn't mind it at all and instead thanked it as it allowed her to be the person who she was meant to be inside all along.

To be her.

"Lydia!" Stiles quietly called her and the girl jumped in surprised. The strawberry haired female snapped her head to look at Stiles and the hyper-teen peered over her shoulder. "What are you drawing?"

He slid the notebook closer to his view and his eyebrows huddled together in confusion. Lydia shifted her head closer to the book and she dropped her pencil on to the table. On it, she drew multiple triangles, all in various shapes and sizes, but was bizarre was the cross in the middle of all of them. She had no idea why she was drawing these types of sketches or what each of them all mean as well. Lydia didn't have time to react as Stiles took the notebook into his own hands and began to flip the pages backwards.

Isaac, finally focusing his attention to what was happening in front of him, inched closer as his ocean eyes gazed at each page flipped. They were sketches of a random forest with a small creek, each one the same as the pervious. Lydia held her mouth open, wondering when she had time to draw all of these. She couldn't have possibly drew all of them last night without her knowing about it.

"What the hell…" she cried silently, enough not to draw the teacher's attention. Stiles finally looked up at the shaken girl and he put the notebook down. "Stiles…what the hell is going on with me?"

"Listen, Scott told me what you and Allison said yesterday," he spoke to her in a hush tone, but loud enough for the three of them to hear. "About the dream you had yesterday? Look, I know you can sense when death is coming due to your loud screech-"

"Which is like a dog whistle, just putting it out there," Isaac added and the two teens sitting in front gave the blue-eyed werewolf a glare. He simply rose his hands in mock surrender while Stiles shook his head before returning his attention back to Lydia.

"I'm sorry, Lydia, I forgot to put the muzzle on his face this morning. He's normally quiet when it's on him." Isaac growled at this comment, but Stiles was already immune to the deadly sound. "Back to what's important: I'm doing the best I can on figuring out what your dream means. I know you have this tightness to death, but with all the information so limited," his finger flipped to another page and stopped. "Angel wings? Seriously?"

"Don't judge my drawings!" She angrily quipped at him while slapping his arm. Stiles pathetically defended himself from her wrath and Isaac chuckled in amusement.

"I wasn't!" He hissed at her as he pushed away her deadly hands. "Look, let me take your notebook and I'll do some research about it. Maybe I'll find a clue or two in this." 

* * *


	5. V

Scott tapped his pencil lightly against his legs.

He was concentration on his US History homework, the enormous textbook wide open to the chapter that he needed to read. Stiles was sitting comfortably on his bed with his laptop, the fingers rapidly tapping on the keyboard as he tried to decode the drawings in Lydia's notebook. Isaac was quietly reading a book in the corner for English, but he had his phone on the side in case he grew bored. Ever since the threat of the alpha pack simmered down and was broken apart, they had more time to focus on their school work. It was a blessing considering it was their junior year and all of them needed to focus on colleges and the SAT.

"I think I got it!" Stiles cried from his seat and the two werewolves snapped their heads at him. The human teen practically jumped off from the bed with his laptop in hand and rushed towards Scott. "I think I might have something here."

Scott spun his chair as he took the laptop from his best friend. "Let me see."

" _It will be almost a year after the disappearance of Annabelle Miller. The thirteen year old girl, who is a resident of Delrum-Woods, had gone missing on Halloween night last year without a trace. The mother of Annabelle had been pleading to everyone who might know anything about her daughter's whereabouts and is still not giving up the fight on finding her. Police authorities in Delrum-Woods have put the missing case aside due to lack of evidence and might consider it a cold case. They still will take in any tips, but for now it seems that Annabelle Miller is still missing._

 _The young girl was last seen leaving her home wearing an angel costume. Annabelle's mother, Ruth, told detectives that she was planning on meeting with her friends at a nearby coffee shop a few blocks down, but friends of Annabelle told Ruth she never came. With Halloween coming in just two days, parents of Delrum-Woods will be in high alert with the mayor advising parents to supervise all children under the age of eighteen. Police presence will also increase as well around the small town as the mayor will not take any chances of having another child go missing._ "

Isaac, who was staring over Scott's shoulder, frowned a bit. "I heard about it, but what does this have to do with Lydia?"

Stiles went back to the bed and snatched the notebook.

"This," he shook the book in front of Isaac, "has some connection with that case. I've been adding up some pieces and it's quite scary to be honest with you both. First off, the angel Lydia drew up: it's sprawled on the floor as if it were 'dead'."

Stiles showed the page to which he was referring at his friends. Isaac and Scott shared a nervous glance at each other before Stiles pulled it back. Scott leaned back on his chair with hands clasped together above his lap.

"The second point, well here's where the freaky part comes," he slowly began as his feet rocked back and forth. "From what I've learned from my dad is to pick out patterns that you might see. I've found one and it all has to deal with the number three."

Isaac shoved his hands inside his pockets. "What do you mean by 'three'?"

"The triangles Lydia drew:  _three_  sides. When she got the dream: it was  _three_  days before Halloween. The crosses in the middle of each triangle refers to the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit."

"Which equals three…" Scott muttered as he was soon catching on to the pattern that was occurring. He cautiously stood up from his seat while staring at Stiles. "Are you telling me that…that Lydia  _might_  be able to locate where Annabelle is?"

The seriousness that tainted Stiles' eyes surprised the alpha werewolf.

"I think she  _can_ , Scott."

 


	6. VI

Lydia was walking in the small creek.

The water wetting her smooth, bare legs as she slowly moved across the cool creek. The crying noise grew louder with each passing step, the sniffles come and go. Her bare feet touched the pebbles underneath the water trickling around her. She began to leave the creek, her toes touching the dry dirt of the forest. Dead leaves and twigs pinched her feet, but she simply ignored them as she continued to wander further and further.

As she grew closer, her hazel eyes caught the sight of a small figure. It was a girl, dressed in white with broken wings on her back. Her blonde hair caressed down her spine and it blocked her face from Lydia's view. The redhead wasn't sure what to do, but her curiosity got the best of her as her legs continued to move forward.

"Hello," Lydia softly, but hesitantly, called out after the girl. "Are you okay?"

" _Find me…_ " The girl plead, her voice sounded quite young and frighten. " _Please find me…_ "

"But I see you," Lydia answered her as she built the courage to head after her. The strawberry haired genius wanted to help out this girl and she was determined to do so. She was finally close to her and Lydia noticed how little she was from her view. "Give me your hand, I'll take you home."

" _Please find me,_ " she implored as her pale hand reached out and grabbed onto Lydia's. As soon as their hands connected, the sudden rush of a burning sensation caused Lydia to scream out in pain. She sprung out of bed, her scream loud and powerful, as she pushed the covers off from her body. She shook with fear as sweat began to trickle down her face and a few strands of her hair stuck to her forehead. Lydia tried to calm down, as she breathed in and out, her heart pumping quickly that she could hear the beat.

Lydia looked to her clock and the red colors blared against her vision. It read 6:30 in the morning and the teenager relaxed. How was that yesterday she didn't dream, but today she did? It confused her so much that it made her feel angered by it. Lydia rose her right hand to wipe away the sweat from her forehead, but stopped short. She turned her hand around she her palm was now facing her and gasped escaped her lips.

"Oh my god, oh my god," Lydia's mouth was trembling with disbelief. On her right palm laid a burnt cross on her skin. There was no blood oozing out, but the sting was enough for her to cuss because the pain was too much. The teenager immediately jumped off her bed and snatched the soft towel that sat on her table beside her. Hopefully the cross would go away, but every time she pricked it a hiss left her lips.

She had to put a bandage over this.

 


	7. VII

"Hello, beautiful," Aiden purred as he slid beside Lydia at the lunch table. Allison in front of her as she bit into her juicy, red apple. As Aiden gave a sweet peck on the cheek, Lydia hadn't responded to his affections and the werewolf grew increasingly confused. "Hey, you okay?"

Lydia blinked as she whipped her head to face him. "Oh yeah, yeah. I'm fine, just perfectly fine."

"You do know I could sense when you're lying," he bluntly told her and Lydia sighed knowing it wouldn't work. Aiden wrapped an assuring arms around her shoulders, pulling the female closer to his body heat, the warmth feeling quite soothing for Lydia's nerves. "Come on, tell me what's wrong. You know I hate to see you like this: all gloomy and not feisty."

Lydia stared at Allison briefly with her best friend simply nodding in return. Aiden's eyes flickered between the two's silent conversation going on and his hold only tighten. "Okay, can one of you tell me what's going on with words perhaps? I'm a werewolf, not a mind reader."

"Obviously you're not, it would be practically impossible," Lydia huffed and Aiden rolled his eyes at her statement. "Anyways, listen Aiden I'm not sure how to tell you this-"

"Are you breaking up with me?!"

Lydia slapped his shoulder roughly. "Don't be stupid and jumping to conclusions!"

"Well next time don't start with that kind of sentence."

"Will you just let me continue or what?"

"Fine," he gestured for her to go on. Allison snickered at the small banter that had just played out in front of her before putting the half eaten apple down on the plastic tray. Lydia inhaled a deep breath and began her sentence.

"Aiden, two days ago I had this bizarre dream of me walking in a forest with a person crying. I was trying to find out who was with me, but then a hand strangled my throat 'killing me' before I woke up. I told Allison and we both went to tell Scott-"

Aiden rudely interrupted her. "Why didn't you come to me? I could've helped, you know!"

Lydia glared at him. "Do you want to know what's going on or what?"

"Fine, continue," he defeatedly motioned his hand for her to go on, again. "But I'm still pissed off, you know?"

"Anyways, Allison and I talked to Scott and he promised us to help out the best he could. The next morning, I had no dream, but during physics I began to draw these sketches. I hadn't realize what I was drawing until Stiles pointed it out to me. They were triangles, in different sizes and each of them had a-"

She froze mid-sentence.

Allison's face morphed into full concern. "Lydia? Lydia are you okay?"

"Cross," the terrified girl mumbled out. In a flash, her left hand pulled the white glove she wore on her right. Allison and Aiden inched closer to her with Aiden asking what happened to her hand. Lydia simply unwrapped the bandage and flipped to her palm to show them. "I got it this morning."

"Lydia," Allison reached out with, her brown eyes completely wide. "It looks like it was burned on you!" Allison gently had her index finger float above the scar that was forming on Lydia's right palm. The bruise was still flashing red, but for Lydia it seem to have lost some color since this morning. She slowly pulled her hand away from Allison's grasp and cupped it with her left hand herself. Lydia didn't want to see Aiden's reaction, but his stiff body gave away the angered expression he held on his face.

"It's the same cross that I kept drawing," Lydia finished off, her hazel eyes were glossy with fright. "What scares me is that I had a dream this morning. It was different and I was walking through a creek and then I saw this young girl dressed as an angel. She was crying 'Find me' and I only went closer while holding my hand to help her up. When she reached me, it felt as if I touched a hot stove and then woke up screaming. I woke up screaming with this cross," she showed them her palm again.

Allison grabbed her bag that was sitting on the side. "Come on. We need to find Scott or Stiles."

With that, the three teens exited the cafeteria.

 


	8. VIII

"What the hell…" Stiles was surprised by the scar that was forming on Lydia's palm. Everyone was inside the library: Aiden, Allison, Scott, Stiles, Lydia and even Isaac. Isaac, Scott and Stiles had lunch this period, but the urgent text that Allison gave to Scott caused them to head to the library. Aiden didn't care if he was cutting class because at this moment: Lydia's situation was his number one priority. Stiles' finger glided softly on her hand. "So you're telling me you got this from the 'dream'?"

Lydia gave him a deadpan stare. "No, Stiles. Apparently I love to burn crosses on my skin!"

Stiles rose his hands in surrender. "I'm not judging you! But it really is bizarre although it does somehow add up."

"What do you mean?" Allison tilted her head to the side while her hand rested on Isaac's chair. "Are you saying you found something?"

Stiles took out his laptop. "That's exactly what I'm saying. Yesterday, I took home Lydia's notebook to see what I could figure out or connect it to something. What I got was this," he stated while his fingers quickly typed on the keyboard to present them a page. "Annabelle Miller, a thirteen year old girl who had gone missing on Halloween last year. Friends of her claimed she never showed up at the cafe shop to go trick-o-treating. The costume she was wearing was an angel."

"Oh I heard about this story," Allison murmured quietly to herself as her eyes became filled with sadness. "Poor girl, but what does this missing case have to do with Lydia?"

"In my opinion: everything since all the clues are beginning to add up," Stiles piped up as he opened up the drawing notebook. "I even found a pattern that deals with a number. Specifically the number three. The triangles Lydia kept drawing:  _three_  sides. How she got the dream  _three_  days before Halloween. Even the cross in religion symbolizes the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit or Ghost, which ever you guys prefer, are  _three_."

Isaac's eyebrows narrowed together in thought. "Hey, it says she went missing last year right? Last year was 2010 and when you add the numbers up it equals-"

"Three," Aiden and Scott simultaneously finished. Scott's eyes flickered at each person sitting around him. "But what about the creek and forest Lydia drew up?"

Allison stood straight up. "Didn't you say the dream you had this morning, you were walking across a creek?"

"Yeah," Lydia drawled cautiously, almost as if she were afraid to admit it. It took a few seconds for Stiles to connect everything together before his fingers snapped.

"Lydia, I think you might be able to locate where Annabelle is!" He exclaimed only to be harshly shushed by the librarian of the school. He sheepishly sat back down on his seat, but cleared his throat. "I think we should go to Delrum-Woods tomorrow after school. See if we could find out where she is."

"On Halloween?" Isaac questioned him and Stiles looked at him with a serious gaze.

"You have some trick-o-treating to do, Isaac?"

The werewolf glared at him. "I was just asking and no I don't. It's just: how long of a drive is Delrum-Wood from Beacon Hills?"

"It's an hour and half," Scott pinched in as he searched through his phone. "We could all meet up when school ends like Stiles planned and head over there. Search the woods too."

"So we'll be like detectives," Aiden mused quietly with a grin and Lydia rolled her eyes his reaction. The werewolf dusted his light red coat with his hand as he pushed himself off from Lydia's chair. "But how will we know where the  _exact_  location is. I don't want to wander around the woods all night, although it could make a good Halloween experience."

Stiles raised a finger. "Even though I don't agree with him on the Halloween part, I'm the only human here, by the way-"

"But I'm human too," Allison happily piped up from her seat and Stiles sent her an 'Are-You-Kidding-Me'.

"You are skilled in archery and your dad owns millions of weaponry, so much that you two could start a Walmart for guns."

Scott lets out a short laugh, but tried to cover it up with a cough. Allison sent him a curious glance, but brushed it off as she inattentively stared at Stiles. "Okay, you have a point…but we don't own millions of guns!"

Stiles leaned forward with his right arm lazily on the library table. "I'll believe it when see it. Anyways, enough of this: back to my point that was put off. How will we know the  _exact_  location. Isn't the forest of Delrum-Woods much larger than ours? Not just that, but there will be an increase in police tomorrow. I don't think a bunch of teenagers roaming around the woods, looking for a body I might add, will go too swell with the cops. I mean," he sent a knowing look at Scott, "you saw what my dad did to us, and thank you  _by the way_  on leaving me  _behind_!"

"You dragged me out!" Scott defended himself. "I was trying to get a good night's sleep like the good child I am."

"Yeah, okay," Stiles snorted as he waved a hand at his direction before looking at everyone. "So…should we just sneak carefully into the woods or what? I don't want to attract any trouble."

"Well you've been doing a poor job at it," Isaac pointed out as he played with his sleeved shirt. The werewolf was so entertained by the string flowing between his fingers that he didn't have enough time to react to the paper ball thrown at his face. Isaac jumped in shock, his blue eyes wide as his head whipped around to see the weapon that attacked him. "Seriously?!"

"Hey, you got werewolf powers. You had enough time to catch it with your werewolfness," Stiles pointed his finger at the teenager that sat across from him. Scott sighed from his seat since it was difficult for him to keep the two at bay. If it wasn't for him that the two had something in common with, they would probably start to hit each other and in Scott's opinion: Stiles would have lost the battle easily. "Back to business: what's the plan?"

Aiden shrugged. "Just head to the woods."

Stiles pinched his nose with frustration. "It was as if you didn't even hear the small speech I made, but fine: we'll just head to the woods. A bunch of daredevils, I swear. You're all gonna be the death of me."

Isaac and Aiden shared a mischievous grin.

 


	9. IX

"I can't believe we're actually doing this," Lydia muttered as she checked herself in the rear-view mirror. She was making sure her makeup was intact before reapplying her chapstick. She didn't feel the need to go heavy on her makeup, but instead went for a natural feel. Her hazel eyes pulled away from the mirror and then stared at her best friend. "Do you think this was a good idea?"

"Lydia, calm down," Allison reassured the redhead with a soothing voice. "We're doing this for you. Whatever these dreams that you had, the pictures you drew up the past few days: they have to mean something. You know we'll support you no matter what."

"I know," she sighed as she leaned back into the passenger's seat. "It just feels…weird, but at the same time: it feels normal. It's as if I  _need_  to do this."

Allison eyes quickly drifted to the rear-mirror as she glanced behind. "Well, what does your instinct tell you?"

Lydia didn't answer for a few seconds, but finally breathed out, "To go for it."

"Then you'll do exactly that." Allison softly held the wheel as she drove down the road. The huntress was making sure the others were following closely behind her, and at the moment they were. Stiles' jeep was just behind with him and Isaac in the car. A small smile had crept on her face knowing the bickering might be going on between the two. A motorcycle slightly appeared from the side of the jeep and Allison automatically knew it was Scott.

It had been an hour driving, but Allison wasn't complaining. The brunette teen silently thought about Annabelle Miller. She had heard about the disappearance of the young girl and felt sympathy towards the mother. It must have been difficult knowing your child was nowhere to be found. Probably confused or scared.

Lost and afraid.

Defenseless and weak.

In a way, Annabelle reminded Allison of herself. She used to be confused, lost and defenseless before the training. She had no idea what she was getting herself into, the whole werewolf hunting business that had been kept out of the dark until her Aunt Kate waltzed in and showed her. Allison was innocent before discovering about her family's secret.

She had been innocent like Annabelle.

Allison's eyes blinked as soon as the dark blue billboard came into view. They had finally arrived at Delrum-Woods and for some odd reason, her hands lightly gripped the wheel. There was a police car parked a few feet down with two officers inside and Allison tried her hardest to keep her eyes on the road in front. They weren't doing anything wrong, they were simply driving through their town, so Allison didn't understand why she felt afraid.

Lydia's hazel eyes glanced at Allison's gripped hands. "Are you okay?"

Allison loosen her grasp on the wheel, brushing a strand of hair away from her face while forcing a small smile. "Yeah. I'm fine."

Lydia didn't seem convinced, but didn't push the subject further. She stared outside the tinted window, her fingertips digging on the car's leather seats to calm her nervous. Lydia couldn't believe they actually arrived and everything seemed surreal for her. As Allison drove along, Lydia couldn't shake this feeling that was looming above her shoulders. She leaned forward in her seat while gripping her seatbelt.

"Stop right here," she demanded quickly. Allison stared at her with confusion.

"What?"

"Stop right  _here_!" Lydia bounced from where she sat and Allison hit the brakes. The wheels screeched to a halt and Lydia's fingers rapidly worked on the belt. Once taking it off, she exited the car not bothering to wait for the others who had slowed down. Aiden's voice lingered into the background as she completely ignored everyone and ran into the forest.

The leaves crunched underneath her weight and her beautiful, strawberry-blonde hair flowed against the wind. Lydia was using her instinct for guidance, she was using the dreams that had haunted her for the past three days for some sort of clue. She was using them both and her hazel eyes bounced around, taking in the tall trees as the leaves slowly fell down from the high branches above her.

That's when she stopped her fast pace.

The sound of the water rushing through the rocks caught Lydia's ears. Her lips went completely straight as the grip of her hands loosen on her sides. Her hair lightly flew as the wind quietly blew between the strands, the leaves scattered around her feet with lovely colors of red, orange and yellow. Lydia heard a loud noise come behind her and she snapped her head to see the rest of her friends running after her.

"Lydia!" Stiles screamed as he was the first to approach the intelligent girl. With his hands placed on his knees, he bent down as he tried to catch his breath. "What the hell was that about?"

"Yeah," Allison stopped her running to a halt. Her boots crunched some twigs and branches that were covered by the various leaves around the forest's floor. "Are you okay? You just ran off without saying a word."

"The creek," Lydia noted as she looked back at the water. "It's the same one I saw in my dream. The rocks..."

She took a hesitant step forward. "The trees…"

Aiden tried to reached for her, but Scott stopped him from doing so. She scanned and watched as the sun's rays tried to break through the leaves of the trees above her. Lydia finally lowered her head and her eyes faced straight as she continued to walk ahead. Standing near the edge of the forest's creek, Lydia placed one of her feet into the water. Although she wore leggings underneath the skirt, she felt the coldness of the liquid hit her burning, skin.

Building up the courage and ignoring the cool temperature that settled beneath her waist, she slowly continued to walk through the water. Her feet felt the various sized rocks and pebbles under the water and she soon caught a sound.

It was a child crying.

A cry that sounded very familiar to Lydia's warm ears.

With one foot leaving the creek, she made it towards the other side of the forest and her pace remained the same: slow and steady. Lydia didn't want to rush what was happening and the others behind her didn't question her actions. They simply followed to where she was heading and the werewolves could all pick up a foul smell lurking around the woods. The odor tickled their sense of smell and Isaac's nose scrunched.

"It smells like-"

"Death," Aiden murmured as he finished Isaac's thought. The twin werewolf only watched in silence with a firm mouth as his girlfriend soon froze in place. The wind the blew through the millions of trees made their way through Lydia's reddish locks. Her eyes examined above her with the light bursting through the clouds and trees shinning down upon them all. She finally crouched down near the forest ground before stating,

"It's here." Lydia turned her head to see her friends over her shoulders. "She's here. Annabelle's here. I can feel it."

Scott stepped forward and soon crouched down towards Lydia's height. "We can  _smell_  it too. She's definitely here."

"Scott," Allison called out for him and the alpha stared over his shoulder. "You may want to look a bit more closely. They're white feathers everywhere."

Stiles scanned around, his fingers lightly caressing one of them.

"She's right. White feathers everywhere," he murmured and the curious teen gazed around for more clues. His hazel eyes could see more of the feathers scattered around beneath their feet. Shuffling the leaves with his sneakers, he discovered a thick line. "Move the leaves around. Move them aside!"

"For what?" Isaac asked him without the attitude this time.

"I think there might be more under the leaves," he began to push aside the leaves and the rest of the group followed. It took them a couple of minutes to move the dead leaves to the side, the sweat trickling down Stiles' face. He discovered something, and that something might be important. Allison's threw the last bunch of leaves into the pile they had created and everyone stepped back.

Lydia broke the silence. "It's a cross."

"The trees," Aiden pointed out to everyone with his finger. "They all connect each other and make a triangle."

"And a cross in the center of it," Scott remembered the drawings of Lydia Stiles had showed him before. The young teenager furiously shuts his eyes as he tried to control his anger that was building up inside of him. "Get the shovel, Stiles."

They had found her.

 


	10. X

Isaac leaned against one of the cars they had driven to get here.

Day had turned into dusk as the sun was quickly setting down in Delrum-Woods. One would expect that once the sun had gone, it would be peaceful and quiet. Today was not the day as the lights of the police and ambulances brighten the road where the action was taking place. Some local news reporters had station themselves to the side as they were reporting what was happening.

Annabelle Miller had been found.

Lydia was standing beside Allison, the two girls offered each other comfort, but Allison knew her best friend needed it more. She engulfed Lydia in her arms, pulling the quiet fashionista closer to her body for a sense of warmth. Lydia looked towards the distance as she saw her parents talking to the police and reporters on scene.

In fact, everyone's parents and guardians had showed up.

Stiles' father, Sheriff Stilinski.

Scott's mother and Isaac, Aiden and Ethan's official guardian, Melissa McCall.

Allison's father, Chris Argent.

"We know what our children had discovered and it was very surprising for them, but the person you should all be focusing on is the mother of this poor child: Annabelle. I'm sure Annabelle's mother is somewhat relieve to know her daughter's body has been found, but is face with a tragic reality that she is gone from this world in a very brutal manner," Melissa spoke towards the many microphones in front of her. "Our condolences are with Annabelle's mother and may she move on through this horrific time. As a mother of four children of my own, it's painful to hear about a death of a child. Thank you."

Sheriff Stilinski patted her shoulder tenderly as he gently pushed her aside. "We will not be answering any questions as of right now. This case is still under police investigation and we must respect the time of mourning this poor town is feeling as of right now. Not only Delrum-Woods, but Beacon Hills and any nearby town surround this one. Thank you all for your time."

As the reporters begged him to answer more, he only pushed Stiles further down and away from the loud area. Chris was quietly speaking to Allison and gave his daughter a loving hug before he pulled away and faced the sheriff. With Lydia's parents holding a private conversation on their own, he gathered the rest of them around to speak what was on his mind.

"How did you all know where to find Annabelle?" Chris demanded, but his tone wasn't harsh. Instead, it was filled with worried as he knew the police would demand answers as to how six teenagers from another town manage to find a young girl's body in a random part of the forest. "Tell me the truth."

"Lydia kept having dreams about her," Scott honestly answered him with his brown eyes staring straight at him. "She told Allison and the two came to me. Her drawings also helped out. We just simply connected them all."

Stiles raised a finger. "I did some research on Annabelle's case, just putting it out there."

Chris nodded in acknowledgment. "And you used your sense of smell to pinpoint the body."

"Not exactly," Aiden added as he uncrossed his arms from his chest. "Allison and Lydia were both in the car and they stopped out out of the blue. We saw Lydia run out and head towards the woods so we simply followed her. She lead us to this creek and she crossed it to get towards the other side. That's when we caught the odor of death hit our noses."

"I discovered the white feathers lying around between the leaves," Allison admitted to her dad, her eye connecting with his. "Stiles pushed them aside and noticed some line drawn in the dirt. Moving the leaves aside, we saw it forming a triangle with the cross in the middle. It was the same image Lydia kept drawing in her notebook."

Isaac pipped up as well. "Everything basically connected with each other. Lydia's dreams and drawings and such."

Stiles' dad nodded. "All right, we'll see what we could do to cover this up. The police might think what you all confessed was insane. For us, we know it make perfect sense. Now let's just head home, you all need some rest."

"Can we do some trick-o-treating for a bit?" Stiles happily suggested and everyone sighed, but held amused smiles before walking away. "What? I'm serious here!"

"How about I buy you a piece of pumpkin pie?" His dad offered with a tired grin.

"It might do," Stiles marched towards his car with a confident strut.

 


	11. XI

"They found her," Stiles' voice boomed behind Lydia. It was November second and the hallways were filled with students chatting about the latest Halloween party that had just happen. "Oh, I overheard about Bridget's party. It was, and I quote: 'The most  _awesomest_  party like ever.'"

Lydia closed her locker door while adjusting her bag strap and walked ahead. "Well that's quite nice."

Stiles kept on her pace as the two headed down the hallway. "Really? That's it? You're not angry that you wasted a perfect opportunity to throw a Halloween party? Sure Bridget could throw a fiesta, but yours are like Paris Hilton's standard."

"I'm fine," Lydia sighed as a confident smile appeared on her smooth face. "There's always next year you know. Changing the subject, you said they found her? The suspect right?"

"Early this morning," he answered her truthfully. "My dad received a phone call from the Delrum-Woods police department. They're still slightly suspicious about our little 'adventure' but Allison's dad might have us covered. Anyways, they found her at this small house in another part of the forest. Surprisingly: it wasn't too far from where the body was found."

They turned the corner. "Well I hope this woman gets what she deserves."

The noises soon faded away as the two entered to the quiet part of the school building. She froze near the staircase, her hand gripping the railing as her eyes gazed down. Stiles sensed her worried state and gently squeezed her tensed shoulder. Lydia jumped as her head snapped towards his view and her eyes stared intensely into his.

"Are you okay?"

She didn't answer right away, but nodded.

"Y-Yeah…it's just the memories," she picked up her right hand and flipped to the palm's side. Stiles noted this and his eyes were filled with sorrow as his finger trailed the burnt skin. "It doesn't hurt if you're wondering, but seeing that same cross carved into  _her_  hand, the dried up blood that had oozed out…how could someone do such a thing?!"

She screamed with tears finally bursting out, but Stiles didn't move or jump. "She was just a  _girl_! She had a whole life ahead of her and we found her! We found her dead and buried in the woods! Strangled and left to die!"

Lydia hugged Stiles, her wet tears hitting his chest as they drenched his shirt, but he didn't care. His arms snaked around her quivering body and tighten their hold on her as her cries were muffled by his body. Stiles tried his hardest not to cry, but he knew he failed once he saw his vision become blurry and he could taste the salty tear reach the corner of his mouth.

"I know…" he whispered near the temple of her forehead. "At least she doesn't have to suffer of going unfound any longer. Because she reached out and you answered her. You found her and you saved her."

Lydia let the words repeat in her head.

Annabelle reached out to her and she answered.

Lydia had found and saved her.

 _She_  had found and saved her.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story I wrote for Halloween back in 2013. Decided to repost it here, although Halloween has already passed…


End file.
